Monday, December 5, 2011

Another Brilliant Idea: Party System

Why do we have two political parties? Politics is not black and white, but we try to make it that way. For everything our party system gets right, there is something that it gets wrong. We need an update. America has had to make changes over its 200 plus years, why not make another one?

Right now, so many times, politicians vote based on party lines and make decisions based on party beliefs, even if they don't support those beliefs. The two-party system has broken down. Nothing gets done because republicans and democrats can't get along. Its always a stalemate unless one party gets more power than the other. If then, that just happens in the short term. Eventually, the power shifts and then that party makes it miserable for the other one. Lets just get rid of parties.

It could be chaotic if not handled properly, but we don't need parties, do we? People wouldn't have to follow a particular party structure or pledge allegiance to a single believe system with no room for change. In America, we support people being themselves and being individuals (supposedly). Right now, politically, we don't allow for that to happen. This structural change would enable people to be themselves.

While we're at it, lets get rid of national conventions. The Democratic and Republican national conventions used to serve a purpose; they used to announce each party's candidates for the presidency. Now, we already know who the candidates are by the time the conventions come around. So, millions of dollars are spent on announcing nothing. It would more smarter and more economically to spend that money on almost anything else (literally). In a down economy, we can't afford to waste even more money.